


Penrith New Year

by iolanthe_rosa



Category: Lord of the Rings RPF
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-04-25
Updated: 2003-04-25
Packaged: 2017-11-19 10:59:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/572534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iolanthe_rosa/pseuds/iolanthe_rosa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A nice rest for the boys after a hectic holiday season.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Penrith New Year

"Slainte!" Billy cried, holding up his snifter of scotch. The firelight made the brown liquid glow gold for a magic moment before it disappeared down his throat.  
  
"Happy New Year, mate," Elijah responded cheerfully, swallowing his own glass a bit more slowly.  
  
"Cheers!" Dom added, carefully maneuvering his glass around Elijah's head, which was resting against his shoulder.  
  
It still seemed unreal. They had had this interlude planned for some time, but when it finally came to pass, it was only after an exhausting and stressful press tour for The Two Towers, a frenzy of last-minute gift shopping and packing, a long flight sandwiched between chaotic airports, and an intense Christmas at Dom's parents' house, drinking and clubbing with Dom's friends at night and trying desperately to be charming and non-controversial with Dom's family during the day.  
  
Somehow Elijah must have known he would need a quiet New Year's after that, because when Billy had proposed the farmhouse in Penrith back in October, he had responded enthusiastically, despite his usual inclination toward celebrations involving late nights and loud music. As he and Dom drove away from Manchester in their rental car, the silence filled his ears, and he gratefully closed his eyes, breathed deeply, and let the oxygen flow from his lungs in a long sigh that combined profound relief with total exhaustion.  
  
"Y'okay, love?" Dom asked, a slightly amused smile playing at the corners of his mouth as he glanced at the small young man collapsed in the passenger seat. Elijah paused a moment before he answered.  
  
"I'm fine. But I can see it's going to take awhile to adjust to having in-laws."  
  
"There's nothing like family to suck the life force out of you!" Dom chuckled.  
  
"Well, *you* seem pretty chipper anyway."  
  
Dom smiled. He *was* happy. The visit had gone perfectly. Several years ago he had told his friends and family that he was gay, but he had never brought home any of his boyfriends. He must have known instinctively that each one was not "the" one, even though he sometimes thought otherwise at the time. Of course, Elijah had met Dom's parents several times and was comfortable with them, but this was the first real Monaghan family holiday he had been part of, complete with aunties and uncles and cousins and friends.  
  
When Dom had undergone his own version of this trial by fire with the Wood family, he had thrived on it. He was naturally outgoing and self-confident; people took to him and felt comfortable with him. But Elijah was different. He was shy and self-effacing, awkward even, and his celebrity and otherworldly looks often made others feel uncomfortable. Dom was especially concerned about taking this child of Hollywood, educated by private tutors and sheltered from much of normal middle class reality and placing him amongst the down-to-earth denizens of the Monaghan clan. Elijah could drink and curse like a sailor, yes, but he had not cleaned many toilets in his life, or worked as a grill cook or bus driver.  
  
But, as often happens, Dom had underestimated both Elijah and his family. Elijah was thrilled to meet the extended family, fascinated to start putting together the puzzle pieces of Dom's early life through their stories and faces. And Dom's family, carefully prepared by Aureen, behaved well, did not gawk or ask embarrassing questions.  
  
It helped that Dom's parents loved Dom unconditionally and did not tolerate anyone, least of all close relations, treating him rudely or unkindly. It helped that Dom so obviously adored Elijah. Even Uncle Alf, a hard-bitten old rascal and lifelong Navy man, was charmed by Elijah, regaling him with tales of his high seas adventures until Elijah had had to invoke one of his and Dom's pre-arranged signals to get himself rescued.  
  
The only place they had to themselves in the small house was Dom's old bedroom. Aureen and Austin let Dom and Elijah sleep in the same room, which was open-minded of them, but the room had two narrow twin beds separated by a nightstand: this made Elijah laugh, but frustrated Dom no end.  
  
"Seems like we should at least be able to have a cuddle at the end of a long day," Dom groused.  
  
One night, though, Elijah crept into Dom's bed to provide the wished-for cuddle, and when things naturally began to progress amorously, Dom suddenly stiffened and hissed, "No! I can't do this. We can't do this. Not with my parents in the next room!"  
  
"We can be quiet, Dom," Elijah argued.  
  
"No, no! It's unnatural - breaks the social contract: no sex when parents are within 25 feet."  
  
"Oh, come on, Dom!" Elijah cried, "Your folks are probably having sex right now, too!"  
  
This proved to be the ultimate mood killer, and Elijah found himself banished to the other side of the room for the duration of the visit.  
  
Now as they sped along the motorway towards Penrith, Dom reached for Elijah's hand. "I'm so proud of you, baby. You did great with my family. You were a huge success. Everyone loved you...but I'll be glad to sleep in a big bed again, with my parents a hundred miles away!"  
  
Elijah giggled and squeezed Dom's hand. "I definitely earned myself some of that Dommie-love! I can hardly wait."  
  
The urban blight of Manchester disappeared behind them, and was soon replaced by green countryside spotted with gray leafless trees, hedgerows, and the occasional old rural village, each one complete with church, pub, and lovingly kept homes.  
  
"This is beautiful country," Elijah remarked.  
  
"Yeah, it is. It's the Shire," Dom agreed. "Why don't you have a rest, Lij? I know the way and we'll be there in a couple hours."  
  
Elijah yawned agreeably, "Sounds good." He reclined his seat as far as it would go. The thrum of the car wheels against the pavement felt good, the vibrations radiating through his body as he drifted off to sleep. Dom was still holding Elijah's right hand, idly toying with the large ring on Elijah's finger, steering the car with his other hand. Dom had given him the ring on their second anniversary, and, things being what they were with Lord of the Rings PR, Elijah could only wear it when he was away from the cameras. It still gave Dom a thrill to see it on his hand. With Elijah trustingly asleep next to him, wearing his ring, Dom enjoyed the now-familiar sensation of falling in love all over again.  
  
==========================  
"Time to wake up, baby."  
  
The car had slowed and the sound of smooth pavement beneath the tires changed to the grinding of gravel as Dom turned up a country lane. The landscape had gradually turned hilly, and the houses and buildings began to be made of the local gray slate. Elijah stirred and opened his eyes, then snapped suddenly awake.  
  
"Are we there?" he asked, excitedly.  
  
"Just about." Dom pulled up in front of a small two-story farmhouse, its walls of coarse white stucco, its roof shingled neatly with slate. It was growing dark, and light glowed warmly through the windows. Smoke curled invitingly from the chimney. All around the house were flat green fields, salted with grazing sheep. Only the occasional low bleat disturbed the quiet.  
  
As Dom and Elijah walked up the path to the front door, Billy emerged, smiling broadly.  
  
"Welcome, lads! You're right on time. Did you have any trouble finding the place?"  
  
"No problem. Your directions were good." Dom gave Billy a big hug, then stepped aside so Elijah could do the same.  
  
"Let's go in - it's cold out here." Billy led the way. "So how'd it go with those wild Monaghans, Elijah? Did Uncle Alf eat you alive?"  
  
Elijah laughed, "No, Uncle Alf was great! And he had a story or two to share about Sblomie here. Can't wait to tell you about - Wow! This place is fantastic!" he interrupted himself as he entered the house and looked around the quaint room. The house was old, probably hundreds of years old. The ceiling was low and whitewashed, with thick black beams running across its length. The floor was made of large irregularly shaped slate slabs, covered with a thick area rug. A comfortable sofa and armchairs were placed in front of the cheerfully crackling fire. A dining room table and chairs in a small, clean kitchen completed the downstairs.  
  
"There's two nice bedrooms and a bath upstairs," Billy, said. "Very cozy and hobbity."  
  
"So this is where you spent your holidays as a child, Bill?" Dom asked.  
  
"Yes, most of the time. Meg and I shared a room, my folks in the other, of course. It's actually much nicer now than it was then; been fixed up quite a bit."  
  
Billy did not mention his parents very often. They had died from separate illnesses when Billy was a teenager. The sheer scope of a such a personal tragedy was almost incomprehensible to Elijah, and, because Billy did not talk about this defining part of his life, or, in fact, about himself much at all, Elijah never mentioned it either. Elijah knew that Billy and Dom had shared some intimate moments during filming, spending so much time together under such intense circumstances, but what they shared remained between them, and Elijah respected that. He was surprised and pleased to get this rare glimpse into Billy's personal life.  
  
"Thanks for inviting us, Bill, and thanks for getting the place ready for us, too. It's nice to arrive here and have the house all warmed up and the fireplace going."  
  
"Well, I've done what I could - got the heat going and bought some groceries, but I figured Dom would want to do the cooking, so I didna buy too much. Tonight we can go to the pub doon the road for supper."  
  
"Sounds good."  
  
=====================================  
They enjoyed a comfortable dinner in another hundreds-year-old building, a warm pub, the beams in its ceiling sparkling with coins that had been pressed into the wood over many generations by the native Cumbrians. They considered remaining there until midnight to see the New Year in with the locals, but decided in the end to return home and do it together, just the three of them.  
  
"Slainte!"  
  
"Happy New Year, mate!"  
  
"Cheers!"  
  
Elijah allowed the glow of friendship to envelop them for a full minute after their New Year's toasts. Then at 12:01, he said brightly, "Let's go to bed!"  
  
Billy laughed out loud. "You seem eager, Elijah!"  
  
Elijah blushed. "To tell you the truth, I am." He laced his fingers into Dom's.  
  
"Well, far be it from me to stop ye," Billy laughed. "We'd best be getting to bed anyway. I've been readin' up in 'The Good Pub Guide,' and we have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow." Billy stood up. "I'll wash up first, then it's all yours. ÅeNight, lads. And Happy New Year!"  
  
Billy disappeared up the stairs.  
  
Elijah and Dom remained on the sofa in front of the fire. Elijah snuggled comfortably against Dom, Dom's arm wrapped protectively around Elijah's shoulders. Elijah turned his head and buried his nose into Dom's long neck. "Mmm, you always smell so good," he sighed. Dom stroked the short velvet of his hair.  
  
"I've missed you, baby," he whispered.  
  
"Missed me?"  
  
"Just you and me, alone like this. It's been too long." Dom unwrapped his arm from Elijah's shoulders and leaned around, tipping up Elijah's chin with his finger as he lowered his head for a long, soft, almost-chaste kiss. Elijah's eyes fluttered closed. Dom loved the way Elijah's lashes looked against his pale cheeks, like dark feathers on snow.  
  
"Let's go upstairs," Dom said. He took Elijah's hand and they climbed the narrow staircase together.  
  
Their room was small, but comfortable, the ceiling beamed like downstairs. There was a fireplace and, bless his heart, Billy had started a fire for them. Best of all, a large bed with a thick duvet took up most of the space in the room.  
  
"Oh, this is heaven!" Dom exclaimed, running his hand along the flannel duvet cover and up one of the feather pillows. "Let's hurry and wash up."  
  
Presently, Elijah emerged from the bathroom, naked. "Brrr! It's chilly out here!" he said, diving under the covers. Dom quickly removed his own clothes and joined Elijah under the cloudlike bed linens.  
  
After almost 3 years together, everything was comfortable and easy between them. They had settled on whose side of the bed was whose (Dom on the left), who was inside the spoon (Elijah), and who turned out the light (Dom.) Dom reached for the switch on the nightstand lamp, then suddenly stopped. "I just remembered something," he said, lying back down.  
  
"What?"  
  
"There's an old English tradition that the first night you spend in a room, you count the beams and make a wish."  
  
"Really? That's cool! Let's do it."  
  
They rolled onto their backs and gazed up at the ceiling. Dom started, "One, two, three," then Elijah joined in, "four, five, six, seven." Silently, each made his wish. When he was finished, Elijah rolled onto his side to face Dom. Dom leaned in and captured his mouth in a deep, hungry kiss, exploring every delicious corner of Elijah's mouth. When he pulled back, Elijah was a little breathless.  
  
"Turn out the light, Dommie?" he whispered. Dom reached over and flicked the switch. The firelight flickered around the small room, alternately illuminating and darkening its corners. Dom could see Elijah's large eyes sparkling in the firelight. He leaned in again for another kiss. Elijah wrapped a leg over Dom's hip and nudged him closer. Soon they lay side by side, chest to chest, legs tangled, completely absorbed in each other.  
  
Dom was the first man Elijah had ever kissed, and it had been a revelation, how two people could connect in this way. It had ignited in him a hunger for Dom that had never abated. Even as the blood raced down to his cock with surprising force, he could not completely turn his mind from the feeling of Dom's lips on his, Dom's tongue in his mouth.  
  
Unconsciously, he reached down and wrapped his hand around Dom's cock, as hard and hot as his own. Almost simultaneously, Dom did the same, his long fingers surrounding Elijah. They had long since learned what the other liked, and Elijah began the long even strokes Dom loved. Dom, for his part, set up a rhythm of shorter strokes punctuated by the quick brushes of his thumb under the head of Elijah's cock that he knew drove Elijah wild. Many times they had brought each other off like this, laughing afterwards about how fast things went when you were a horny twenty-something in love.  
  
But tonight, Dom wanted it to last longer, so when Elijah broke off their kiss to throw his head back and moan, he released Elijah's cock. Just the thought of Elijah's small white hand around his own thick cock was enough to bring him to the edge, so Dom quickly removed Elijah's hand from himself and pulled back, panting a little.  
  
Elijah looked at Dom expectantly, his eyes slightly glazed. Dom put his mouth next to Elijah's ear, nibbled the tip briefly, then whispered, "Let me in."  
  
Elijah moaned again, then grabbed Dom's shoulders and helped Dom position himself on top. Dom stilled for a moment, balancing above Elijah on his elbows. Elijah reached up and ran his fingertips along the tops of Dom's ears, smiling.  
  
"They look so pretty in the firelight."  
  
Dom smiled back. He could never understand Elijah's fascination with his ears, but the attraction had only seemed to deepen as time went on.  
  
"They're not nearly as pretty as you are," he said, reaching under the pillow for the bottle of wet he had secreted there earlier and holding it up. "Ready?"  
  
"Let me," Elijah said, taking the bottle from Dom. Dom sat back on his heels and let Elijah apply the cool liquid. At his touch, Dom closed his eyes and breathed in sharply through his teeth, throwing his head back. He was not going to last very long.  
  
Elijah applied some to himself, then lay back down and spread his legs. "Okay, Dommie."  
  
Dom pushed Elijah's knees gently up to his chest and pressed himself against Elijah. The head popped in easily, but he paused, giving Elijah a chance to catch up. Elijah wrapped his legs around Dom's back, hooking his ankles for leverage, then wiggled his hips a little, loosening himself. There was no burn this time, just the pleasant familiar sensation of fullness as Dom inched his way deeper inside.  
  
Oh, nothing in the world felt as good as this. Dom, somewhere in the very small part of his mind that remained rational when he was inside Elijah, marveled at how perfectly the physical sensations matched the actual love he felt, warm and all-consuming. He was in all the way. He needed to move. Elijah needed him to move, but they were frozen in the moment, eyes locked on each other.  
  
"Lijah," Dom whispered. He began rocking infinitesimally, just pressing his cock gently side to side, up and down. Elijah's grip on Dom's shoulders tightened, and he whimpered quietly. "Lijah," Dom repeated, dipping his head down next to Elijah's ear. "I...," a little twist of his hips, "absolutely...," he grabbed hold of Elijah's cock and started pumping, "adore you...ungh..."  
  
He could not hold back any longer. He thrust powerfully, all the way in, all the way out, once, twice, a third time, feeling the heat rise in his groin and his belly. Elijah was bucking rapidly in Dom's hand, crying out rhythmically, "Ah, ah, ah." They climaxed together, Dom groaning as his orgasm flashed through his body. All the tension of the last few days melted away from them both in that timeless moment of ecstasy.  
  
Elijah breathed hoarsely, becoming slowly conscious of the warm strong body collapsed on top of him. He ran his fingers through Dom's hair, "Love you, Dommie, love you so much," he whispered. They remained like that, not wanting to separate, until a log fell from the fire with a thud and a crackle. Dom stirred, rolled off Elijah with a grunt, and returned to his side of the bed, lying on his back, staring blankly at the ceiling. Elijah rested his head on Dom's shoulder. They both felt too lazy and comfortable to clean up.  
  
Dom was just drifting off to sleep when Elijah said, "Know what?"  
  
Dom roused himself with difficulty. "Hmmph?"  
  
"That counting the beams thing really works!"  
  
Dom laughed, kissing the top of Elijah's head. "Yeah. Got my wish too, baby."  
  
"Happy New Year, Dommie."  
  
"Happy New Year, love." 


End file.
